Data | Measuring India’s relative progress in the past 76 years Premium

India has made remarkable progress in the past 77 years, compared to other countries across four parameters: GDP per capita, HDI, IMR & women's participation in Parliament. India's GDP per capita ranking of 24/26 remained unchanged, HDI increased 0.11 points, IMR 3rd worst & women's participation 14.9%. Access to electricity & internet also improved. India's population surpassed China's, making it the most populous country.

India observed its 77th Independence Day this year. This analysis measures India’s relative performance in the past 76 years compared to other countries across four parameters — GDP per capita, Human Development Index (HDI), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and women’s participation in Parliament. Owing to technological advancement and infrastructural development, India and other countries have made remarkable progress in the past seven and half decades. So it becomes imperative to look at where India stood compared to other nations around the time of independence and where it stands now among them.

India is compared with these countries: BRICS (Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa), G-7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States), emerging economies (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates) and the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

Chart 1 | The chart compares GDP per capita (in $) of 26 countries between the 1960s and 2022.

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India’s GDP per capita ranking of 24 out of 26 nations analysed remained unchanged between the 1960s and 2022. While Indonesia and Nepal were lagging behind India in the 1960s, Pakistan and Nepal were lagging behind in 2022.

Chart 2 | The chart compares the Human Development Index of 31 countries between 1950 and 2021.

India’s HDI increased by 0.11 points in 1950 to 0.633 in 2021. However, India’s ranking slipped from 26 in 1950 to 29 by 2021. Of the five countries which lagged behind India in 1950, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Bangladesh—moved ahead by 2021, with scores of 0.87, 0.7 and 0.66 respectively.